UK-based insurance companies are to be banned from covering the cost of terrorist ransoms, Home Secretary Theresa May is set to announce. The government hopes firms and families will be deterred from paying ransoms if the money cannot be claimed back, a news report by BBC states. Ministers maintain that...
Germany has introduced a new law to strengthen its bank deposit insurance system, following a directive by the European Union that requires each member nation to meet improved deposit insurance standards. The German government adopted a package of measures recently at a cabinet meeting in Berlin aimed at ensuring depositors'...
RSA Insurance Group Plc (RSA) agreed to sell its Italian business to ITAS Mutua, the country’s oldest customer-owned insurer. RSA will transfer GBP 434 million of liabilities to ITAS and receive a payment of GBP19 million, the London-based company said in a statement recently. The insurer expects to recognise a...
Belgium-based insurer Ageas is looking to expand its footprint in non-life products in Asia, as economies boom in this part of the world. Frank van Kempen, chief commercial officer for Asia, says Ageas' non-life operations in Asia currently account for only 10 percent of the firm's business, while in Europe,...
British insurer Aviva said it had agreed terms on a possible deal to buy rival Friends Life for GBP5.6 billion as British pension reforms put pressure on insurance companies to find new business. Pension providers are rushing to reinvent themselves after the government in March unexpectedly removed obligations for people...
Declaring positive figures for its third quarter financials, MetLife announced that company had “delivered both top and bottom line growth, investment margins remained strong, and expenses were well controlled.” MetLife reported operating earnings of USD1.8 billion, up 22 percent over the third quarter of 2013. On a per share basis,...
Industry luminaries expressed their views on whether current changes impacting the reinsurance sector are permanent and structural in nature, are a tactical response to short-term conditions, or are part of the normal evolutionary process. At a panel discussion Ulrich Wallin, chairman of the executive board of Hannover Re Group stated...
Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated reported operating income of USD159.8 million, or USD2.31 per diluted share, compared with USD152.9 million, or USD2.14 per diluted share, in the prior-year quarter. Net income totalled USD158.0 million, or USD2.28 per diluted share, compared with USD138.0 million, or USD1.93 per diluted share, in the...
Around two thirds (62 percent) of UK SMEs – equating to around 2,900,000 businesses – may be leaving themselves financially vulnerable without business interruption cover. New figures from Aviva, the UK’s largest SME insurer, show UK businesses may be burying their heads in the sand and leaving themselves financially vulnerable...
UK companies are facing big cost increases in their employee insurance premiums as the average age of their employees continues to rise. Research from Towers Watson shows that when a company’s average employee age rises by five years its Group Income Protection insurance premium could increase by as much as...
